Some one hundred and two (102) private media organs in Cameroon tabled their files to benefit from the state’s assistance.
Amongst the organs are ninety four (94) newspapers and eight (8) online media.
The information was disclosed by the Minister of Communication Wednesday July 1, 2020 in Yaounde.
It was during a very Important session of the National Commission for assistance to enterprises of the private media sector.
The Commission that held at the Ministry of Communication was chaired by Minister Rene Emmanuel Sadi.
News Upfront gathered from a member of the commision that out of the eight (8) online media organs, six (6) were retained and two (2) rejected.
In all, over twenty (20) files tabled were rejected by the commision for one reason or the other.
The Mincom revealed that assembling the amount was not a days job given the various crisis in the country.
He was referring to security challenges up the Northern and East regions, the Anglophone crisis in the North West and South West regions as well as the COVID-19 Pandemic presently crumbling the economy of the nation.
Because of these challenges, the subvention has not been regular in the past two (2) years.
The irregularities was partly caused by governments decision to revise the legal framework binding the state’s assistance.
The document was finally published by the Minister of Communication last April 13, 2020.
According to the legal framework, the state will only assist private newspapers and online media organs.
The audiovisual media (Radio and Television) that used to benefit from the subvention were removed from the list of beneficiaries.
The government’s spokesperson, Communication Minister, Rene Emmanuel Sadi seized Wednesdays ceremony to invite the private media to support state’s activities for a better Cameroon by 2035.
